The Song of an Angel
by Baran3
Summary: ABBANDONNED. self insertion. In the background of 'outerworld'.See l'émeraude cachée in french. Sakura Ikari is the only daughter of Gendo and called to Tokyo 3. But she has also been sent to rectify an unbalance. Evangelion will never be the same.
1. Prelude

**THE SONG OF AN ANGEL**

Disclaimer : I own nothing except the concept of the Guardians of Dimensions, 'Outerworld', Sakura, Iridia and Baran.

Note: This is a self-insertion. Sakura is a pseudonym for Iridia Sunheart, my identity as a guardian of dimensions in the background of 'Outerworld' when there is a necessity for me to be female. A little anecdote here: The basis of this story has been used in a RPG of mine. The players have positively loved it. I hope it will be the same with you.

**PRELUDE**

I am Baran.

I am a Guardian of Dimensions.

I go wherever and whenever I am needed.

In the infinite of all levels of Existence and all the infinite Multiverses and Megaverses, there is an Entity.

I named her Libra, but this name is one among the infinite.

She chose me on my planet during a solar eclipse.

She sent me in another world to rectify an unbalance.

I managed to overcome the difficulties and paid a heavy price for it.

Libra, then, left me the choice to continue for all eternity or be free of the duty.

I chose the duty.

I am a Guardian of Dimensions.

I am here when there is an unbalance in a world.

Armed with the most basic of powers, I struggled against what should not be here.

My infinite power is in my hand, ready to be unleashed.

But the rules of Libra make sure that the unbalance grew in relation to the power I free.

So, in most situations, I take the hand dealt to me and make the best of it.

Listen to one of my stories.

Listen to the time when I was the only daughter of the supreme bastard.

Listen when I was Sakura Ikari, the Third Children in the world of Neon Genesis Evangelion.


	2. Angel attack

**THE SONG OF AN ANGEL**

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the concept of the Guardians of Dimensions, 'Outerworld', Sakura, Iridia and Baran.

Note: I have been inspired for this story by Neon Exodus Evangelion and In Nomine Satanis. Thank you for your works.

The concept of the Guardian of Dimensions enabled me to project my friends in the worlds they like and change the story to what they wanted.

Generally it was for fun. We liked a lot to throw a know world into chaos by using super-powered characters in one session. But many of the games were serious and my friends loved when they managed to create a divergence in a story and rectify what they didn't like.

Many times they were surprised and enchanted when I took them in unexpected directions due to their actions.

Many reviews said that this is a Mary-Sue story. They are right. However, this powerful character is NEEDED. The world of Evangelion, she is about to enter, is unbalanced.

Some are reproaching me to replace Shinji. Don't take it wrong, I like this character. Unfortunately, his absence is part of the unbalance I had prepared. His absence will be partly explained in this chapter.

Finally, this is not canon. I'll try to make no OOC with the main characters, at least at the beginning, since the events will be altered. Without spilling early secrets, you must know that there is another secret enemy among the cast. Also, the angels are not what they appeared to be in the anime.

**Chap 1: Angel Attack.**

OPENING THEME SONG

Original sung by: Takahashi Youko

Original lyrics: Oikawa Neko

Original composition: Satou Hidetoshi

Original arrangement: Oomori Toshiyuki

Modified here: by me.

Like a cruel angel,

young girl, become the legend!

Short Instrumental Intro

A blue wind is now

knocking at the door to your heart, and yet

you are merely gazing at us

and smiling.

Something gently touching--

you're so intent on seeking it out,

that you can't even see your fate yet,

with such innocent eyes.

But someday I think you'll find out

that what's on your back

are wings that are for

heading for the far-off future.

The cruel angel's thesis

will soon take flight through the window,

with surging, hot pathos,

if you betray your memories.

Embracing this sky universe and shining,

young girl, become the legend!

Instrumental

Sleeping for a long time

in the cradle of our love

The morning is coming when you alone will be called

by a messenger of dreams.

Moonlight reflects off

the nape of your slender neck.

Stopping time all throughout the world

We want to confine them, but...

So if people being brought together by fate

has any meaning,

I think that it is a "bible"

for learning freedom.

The cruel angel's thesis.

The sorrow then begins.

You held tight to the form of life

when you woke up from that dream.

You shine brighter than anyone else.

Young girl, become the legend!

People create history

while weaving love.

Even knowing we'll never be gods or goddesses or anything like that,

We live on.

The cruel angel's thesis

will soon take flight through the window,

with surging, hot pathos,

if you betray your memories.

Embracing this sky and shining,

young girl, become the legend!

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The transition between his original world and the world that need the presence of a Guardian has always fascinated Baran.

Even now, after countless travels, it still retained the wonders of the first time.

First, there is the VOICE and the sheer PRESENCE of Libra as she/it/he spoke to him. The Entity has always used this way to communicate with him. He knew through his discussions with his peers that the method varied with each Guardian.

It was generally really basic. The Entity simply said that he was needed somewhere and 'POOF', he was no longer in his dimension.

The tunnel of light was alike the tunnel seen in the series 'Sliders', but he has always suspected that his past experiences had coloured his expectancies.

During the transition, he could feel the energy of the Entity remodelling his body in the form of the Avatar. No Guardian used their former body in their missions. They always wear a form adapted to the world. With time, the Guardian found that his Avatar gained in capacity if he trained himself during the mission. Sometimes, powers that marked the Soul were found present in a new Avatar when they were appropriate.

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She opened her eyes.

She was feeling comfortable. She was sitting in a very plush chair and a regular sound was lulling her back into a nap. She was in a train…Correction, she was in a bullet train…She was a she.

Now, normally, everybody would have a reaction like Ranma after his first dunk in the spring of the drowned girl. This was also why each Guardian has an Avatar. The body was adapted and the Guardian was also adapted. In the place of Baran was Iridia. That was the name that her parents would have chosen should he was born a girl.

Iridia sighed and stretched her body. It has been a nice transition. They were sometimes a little rough. She always remembered the time when she was materialized in a hot spring, without clothes…on the boy side. She was pretty sure that it has been a sign that Libra has a wicked sense of humour. Well, it was time to assess the situation.

She looked upon her appearance with a pocket mirror. She was a fourteen years old Japanese girl, with waist long black hair and her trademark green Mako eyes. She smiled. She was clad in a rather serious grey school uniform: A pleated grey skirt, a white shirt with a stripped red and black tie, white socks, black leather shoes and a light grey vest. Not too bad in her own biased opinion.

She had a small baggage with a knapsack and…a Katana? She reached it and slowly pulled a quarter of the blade out. Yep, it was a real Katana. It was purring at her soul and she recognized it as another form of her trusty Soul-Blade.

She then 'tasted' the background of the world. Each dimension used different rules on the three primary planes of existence: The Physical, the Mental and the Spiritual. Wow! Heavy firepower! Really heavy on all the points. The powers of Ki-manipulation, Psychic and Magic will have a blast in this setting.

She finally waited for the Phantom Memories to manifest. The Phantom memories were the greatest thing for a Guardian after the sliced bread. They were an amalgam of emotions, skills, knowledges and memories of the person represented by the current Avatar. It was a marvellous tool that enabled each Guardian to function without too much problem, especially in another culture than his original one.

She was in AD 2015, the first May…Fifteen years after…the Second Impact? She gasped and grabbed her armchairs with white-knuckle hands. OH! MY! GOD! She was in a world with a background like Neon Genesis Evangelion! Unfortunately, the strings of pseudo-memories continued its parade.

She couldn't believe it. She was…She was the only daughter of Yui Ikari and Gendo Rokubungi…KAMI-SAMA! She was the only LIVING daughter of Yui Ikari and Gendo Rokubungi.

Her eyes were shinning with unshed tears. She was the twin of Shinji. Her brother was …stillborn. No explanation, Shinji was dead without any reason at the birth. Her parents had renamed her Sakura instead of Rei in memory to their son, as the flower of the Sakura tree symbolize the fragility of life.

Sobs begun to wreck her body as the next memory played in her mind. The 'incident' when she was four years old and where her mother has been absorbed in EVA-01 was deeply etched in her soul. She was crying the self-sacrifice of a gentle mother that she had known only for a few years. But, she was especially shedding tears on the fate of a boy that was innocent when the line of his life was cut off prematurely.

The next images were a maelstrom of hellish experiences and acute loneliness. Abandoned by her father and thrown into a family that simply did not want her, she has been miserable, until…

Now, that was something new. Gendo has placed her under his thumb into his branch of the family. One little known fact was that he married into the clan of his wife and took her name. She has been contacted when she was a child by the executors of the will of her mother. She was the last of the Ikari bloodline and heir to everything her clan possess.

The clan was old Samurai blood. Its legacy was strong. Yui didn't have time to show the heritage of her family to her daughter. Gendo simply used the resources of the clan with the arrogance to not searching what was behind it. They simply served him to accomplish his goals and he ignored it in pursuit of his plans.

Secretly, Sakura has plotted her actions. She used the excuse of joining various evening courses to be formed in the duty of her clan and to be prepared when she came in age. Vacations in out of reach seminars have enabled her to be formed by instructors with the original scrolls of the Ikari clan in her family-style of Kenjutsu: a branch of **Zanji Shinjinken-Ryu** (one of the early school of Samurai swordsmanship). The Katana was supposed to be the ancestral sword of her clan.

She quickly scanned the content of her baggage: Hygiene items, spare clothes, a Hakama and **Keigoki** (quilted, navy-blue jacket), a tanto and some documents…Really interesting documents.

Her father was no longer on the clan registry. The executors had declared him unfit to be the head of the clan after abandoning his only daughter. And the irony: He was ignorant of this little fact. This was fishy. Something was very wrong with that. She has the perfect means to get back at her father. She gasped. SEELE! According to what she knows about the anime, Yui was the daughter of an influential member of SEELE.

This was not good! The appearance of the executors of the will of her mother looked more like a manipulation of SEELE to control Gendo through her. The possibility to be the pre-planned assassin of her father seemed also possible with her training. The rest of the documents were the very succinct convocation of her father to Tokyo-3 (Come!-Gendo Ikari.), a NERV ID card at her name and…

She blinked. Now, that was surprising. She held a postal card of Misato Katsuragi. But, instead of suggestive statements and arrows to draw attention to the woman's assets, she was seeing a nice picture of Misato in her NERV dress uniform smiling, leaning up on the hood of her blue Renault Alpine.

Well, she supposed that the fact that she was a girl instead of a young teenager male has influenced the choice of picture for Misato. She preferred that to the sexy bombshell picture that Shinji received.

She sighed. It will not be fun. This world has embarked on a course for total annihilation and she didn't fancy herself in a lesbian relation with Asuka to replenish the Earth. She groaned. There were too many variables and she was about to be sent into battle with the third Angel.

She needed a plan. There was no way that she could solve the unbalance of this world without any allies. She flexed her left hand and felt her infinite power vibrating underneath this layer of existence. Of course, she could simply provoke the Third Impact herself and solved everything in one swift action, but she knew that only worse consequences would result.

No plan can survive the encounter of the enemy. She must remember that this world SEEMED like the series of Evangelion. The best proof was the altered picture of Misato and the probable hidden plot of SEELE for her. She couldn't count on her knowledge of the anime to plan: It will be suicidal.

She sighed again. She would have to play by ear. She would had to have only general lines of conduct to prepare between two angels attacks and trust her instinct in the thick of the battle. And she had to recruit allies or turned over enemies. She can't forget that.

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Meanwhile near the coast, a gigantic strange creature is cruising underwater in the submerged city of old Tokyo.

Sachiel, angel of Water has finally come. Answering a call that he was the only one for now to perceive, the mighty celestial swam forward.

It was his most sacred duty. The trial of Humanity has been initiated. The fires of war will forged the new race…or burned it to a cinder.

On a road on the coast, a group of modern tanks of the JSSDF were waiting. They were silent sentinels of steel whose guns were pointed at the submerged city. The song of the cicadas was interrupted by the sudden massive geyser of salt water.

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Sakura was forcefully debarked at a station near Tokyo-3. She was the only person present. Something that was not surprising if you considered what her little radio was repeating on all the channels.

'Today at 12:30, a state of special emergency has been declared all over Kanto and Chubu districts around Tokai district. Please take refuge in the designated shelters. Repeat. Today…'

And of course, it was now that she had arrived near her goal that all the trains were blocked as proved by all destination panels at the station showing 'All lines are out of service'. Really, they have great organization skills here. She wondered why her father was endangering her like this since she was his only trump card available. The best to do now was NOT wandering aimlessly and wait for Misato to show up. By the way, where was she?

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In a certain blue sport car, a well-endowed young woman was driving with a rather unique style. If there have been any witness, they would have promptly take cover just by seeing the way she drive recklessly.

"Why, of all times, do I have to be so late…I'm going to missed her if she wanders around…What am I going to do?"

Misato looked again on the passenger seat where she can see the photo of Sakura Ikari wearing a rather severe grey school uniform. Well, she looked to be a kind of nerd. She shouldn't be causing too much problem.

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In an attempt to dodge some of the problems that Murphy's law were preparing, Sakura was calling in a telephone booth at the exterior of the station the NERV phone number written on her ID card.

'All normal lines are out of order due to the state of special emergency.'

She sighed, looking to the telephone like she wanted to blast it into oblivion. "Out of order…I really should have seen that coming…"

She advised the traffic panel showing 'Tokyo-3: 13km, Gotenba: 35km' and once again looked at the photo of Misato. The handwriting of it was seemingly mocking her: 'Dear Sakura-Chan. Because I'll come to meet you, wait for me, please. PS: Look at the car!'

"Great. Just great! I may not be able to meet her if I didn't wander like Shinji. I can't help it. I'll have to go in the direction of the shelter."

It was then that the shockwave staggered her. A sudden strong wind rushed in and drew her attention to the hills at the periphery of the sector.

"Uh oh!"

It was only when a gigantic creature of 40 metres, preceded by UN aircrafts, appeared between the hills that her sixth sense began to howl to her ears.

"Holy shit! It has begun!"

There was something strange at the verge of her perception. She couldn't yet make it sense but she instinctually knew it was important. She also absently remarked that the anime didn't do any justice to the sheer visual impact of the third angel: She was petrified by him.

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In the bowels of the vast command centre of NERV, frenetic activity is displayed.

"The identifiable moving object is still approaching this place." said a female operator.

"We've got the visual image of the target. I'll transfer it to the main screen." continued her male partner.

Two men in the shadows of their level looked to the screen. One is an old man with a beige uniform and grey hair standing up. The other is a dark brown-bearded man with reddish glasses and white gloves in a dark uniform.

"It has been 15 years." said Fuyutsuki.

"Yes, there is no doubt." replied Gendo.

"Angels." said Fuyutsuki as they observed the gigantic creature on the screen.

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On the battlefield all VTOL UN aircrafts discharged their rockets against the angel. To the consternation of the pilots, all attacks have strictly no effect. The angel seemed also genuinely puzzled by the attack as he blinked.

"Launch all missiles on the target!"

"Ah!"

But the angel was not without an attack. A lance of energy from his palm suddenly spiked an aircraft through a wing and sent it to crash…just near a certain young girl.

"AAAHH!" Said young girl showed then an amazing talent for survival by diving for cover behind a low wall as the aircraft exploded.

There, again! Just before the angel attacked, Sakura has perceived something but she couldn't say what precisely. She then heard a marvellous sound: The roar of the motor of a Renault Alpine.

Misato couldn't believe it. She had found her wayward charge…in the middle of the battlefield. Well, at least, she didn't wander around the station. She stopped the car and the NERV officer dressed in a low cut black dress opened the door to the young girl.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting."

"Never mind that! Drive! Drive!" Sakura threw herself in the passenger seat and frenetically put on her security belt. Behind them, the angel flexed his AT field and jumped to their position crushing the burning aircraft as the car started off.

Misato blinked as she launched her car in a get away manoeuvre. Well, she was right. This Sakura won't cause any problems. Under the encouragements of the schoolgirl, she began to demonstrate her high-speed style of driving.

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Meanwhile at the command centre, the military are confronted by the abnormal, for them, resistance of the angel.

"The target is still intact. It's moving toward Tokyo-3 as before."

"It cannot be stopped with the air force firepower."

Batteries of missile attacked the angel with their full might but to no avail. The three commanders of the UN force begun to loose their calm.

"Total war! Mobilize all divisions at Atsugi and Iruma Bases to the battle!"

"Don't hold back! Smash the target at any cost!"

A bomber launched a large missile at the target. But the angel simply caught it with one hand. The missile shred itself on the claws then exploded with no effect.

"Why! It was a direct hit!"

"The tank battalion was totally destroyed. Guided missiles and bombs have no effect on it..."

"Useless! With such poor firepower, we'll get nowhere!"

Gendo and Fuyutsuki were watching the struggle of the military with rather satisfied smiles.

"As we thought, it is protected by the expansion of an AT-field." Fuyutsuki was musing about the formidable potential of the so-called AT-field.

"Yes, conventional weapons have no effect on Angels." Gendo was smirking about the helplessness of the military. Soon, those fools will ask for his help and then…

"Yes sir. We'll employ that as previously arranged." Sub-commander Watanabe sighed as he put down the red phone. Using 'it' on Japanese soil seemed too much but they didn't have the choice.

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Back to the battlefield, Misato observed the angel in the distance through field glasses.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to look from such a short distance, Katsuragi-San?" Sakura was not very fond to be so near the N2 explosion that should be coming. But Misato has insisted that they need to know the movement of the enemy to plot the most direct and safest course to NERV.

"Don't worry. We should be in security here."

"Should? Katsuragi-San, for god sake! This thing has ENERGY weapons! Who know what it could do or what the military are going to do in retaliation?"

Misato then remarked that all the aircrafts were retreating. "Hey! Wait a minute... They are going to USE a N2-mine! Get down!"

A big explosion engulfed the angel. The shockwave hit the Alpine and turned it upside-down. Inside the car, protected by the body of Misato, Sakura thought about the stupidity of a few members of the UN military and what she will do to them if she had the chance.

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At the command centre, everybody is rejoicing about the direct hit on the angel, especially the military commanders.

"We did it!"

"Sorry that we've left nothing for you to do." Watanabe was smirking in the direction of Gendo and Fuyutsuki. Civilians have no place on the battlefield.

"Shock wave is coming!"

All screens reported a loss of contact or showed nothing but static.

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Misato and Sakura looked to the overturned and battered car.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, thank you. What about you, Katsuragi-San?"

"I'm fine! By the way, why are you holding a Katana?" She smirked. "Are you a Samurai?"

"Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I am Samurai." She smiled sweetly to the confused Misato. "More precisely, as the heir of my family school, I have the responsibility of safeguarding our ancestral sword, no matter where I go."

"Wow! It's an old sword then?"

"Oh yes! Almost seven centuries."

Misato's eyes widened at that. Seven centuries? Sakura has displayed a portion of the blade to her curiosity and the sword had looked almost brand-new.

"What did you mean by you're 'Samurai'? I don't remember hearing that you're father is Samurai."

The smile disappeared swiftly. "He is not! My mother was Samurai! My father has merely married into the clan and the Rokubungi ARE not Samurai. As the last living direct descendant in the Ikari family, I inherited everything INCLUDING the title."

Misato blinked. It seems that her origin and her father are touchy subjects to the young girl. "Well, are you ready to help me turning over the car?"

"Of course."

"Here goes!"

It was a little difficult, but they succeeded in turning over the smashed Renault.

"Thanks a lot. Good job."

"It was no trouble, Katsuragi-san..."

"Please, call me Misato."

"Only if you call me Sakura, then."

"Let's do it again. Welcome, Sakura-Chan." Misato smiled warmly to the young girl who recovered her previous smile. Sakura was receiving the genuine waves of 'Big-Sister' from the woman and appreciated them.

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In the command centre, the military waited for the confirmation of the destruction of the angel.

"How is the target?"

"It can't be captured due to the electromagnetic pulse wave obstruction."

"It was such a massive explosion. It must have been reduced to nothing."

"Sensors are operating again."

"An energy reaction is detected in the centre of the explosion!"

"Whaaaaaaaat!"

"Visual image is regained."

"Oh...!"

Under the mystified gaze of the military commanders the still standing silhouette of the third angel appeared on the screen.

"It was our trump card ... Unbelievable ..."

"What a monster!"

On the screen the angel was regenerating itself from the damage of the N2-mine.

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On the road to NERV, Misato was demonstrating how to drive a broken car at top speed and making a phone call at the same time.

"Sure. Don't worry. She is under my protection at top priority. Prepare a car train for us. A linear one, please. Yes. I'll bear the full responsibility for her because it was my idea to meet her in the first place. Bye."

If Misato was smiling on the outside, she was less mirthful on the inside. _'But it's terrible! I've just restored my car... It is a jalopy now...33 loan repayments to go ... and the repair costs...What was even worse, my only good clothes have been ruined...'_

"Misato..."

'_I was such in high spirits. My goodness...'_

"Hello? Misato..."

"Eh, what did you say?"

"Is it really OK that you did such a thing...?" Sakura was pointing the batteries for the electric car which Misato seemed to have...'borrowed'.

"Ah, It's OK. No problem. It is during an emergency... We can't do anything if the car doesn't run. In the addition, I am an international officer even if I don't seem like it."

"Aaah! Good! I was worried that you could be held responsible for the…'borrowing'."

Sakura then blinked twice and turned again to Misato. "But…then, why didn't you put your card for the store owner?"

Misato opened her mouth to respond and drew a blank. Her smile slowly disappeared and her eyes widened as she thought about the possible repercussions.

"WOAAAH! MISATO! DON'T LET GO OF THE WHEEL! AND FOR GOD SAKE! STOP HITTING YOUR HEAD ON IT!"

The blue Renault Alpine slalomed roughly on the road as screams of frustration escaped from it, mixed with prayers and repeated demands to keep the eyes on the road.

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Meanwhile, the injured Angel stood in the plain, slowly regenerating his wounds. For Sachiel, it was merely an inconvenience. He was already adaptating his corporal form to what had happened for now.

"It is regenerating itself as we expected." Fuyutsuki was pleased that their predictions were verified for now. It was a good sign for the future.

"Of course, otherwise, it would be useless as an independent weapon." Gendo was still waiting for those idiots of military to realize that they were utterly outclassed.

On the screen, a sudden spark of light was seen from the eyes of the angel and the aircraft which was relaying the images was destroyed.

"Ohhh..."

"Oh, I'm impressed. It can also amplify its own functions." Fuyutsuki turned to his student.

"In addition, it has acquired intelligence."

"The next invasion is a matter of time."

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Misato and Sakura were waiting for a car train to depart from the station on the outside of NERV headquarters.

'The gate is closing. Attention, please. The train is about to depart. This train ...'

"So, we're going to the heart of the special agency NERV?"

"Yes, the secret organization directly attached to the United Nations."

"It's the one which my father belongs to." Sakura voice was bitter. She didn't have to force herself to play the role of the daughter of Rokubungi: Gendo has always been the Supreme Bastard to her. Being able to stop herself to cut off his head will be more difficult.

"Yeah, well. Do you know what he does?"

"I heard from the teacher that it's an important job for protecting the human race. But knowing him, he is probably looming around, looking very important and preventing all the others to do the right job because he needs printed instructions to put on his pants."

The phrase had begun on a normal tone and finished by a snarl. Misato looked bewildered on the young girl that transformed from a cute thing to a demon. Oh boy! She really had some issues with the Commander.

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Gendo was standing before the three commanders of the UN force in NERV Headquarters.

"You are the commander of this operation from now. We'll watch how you will deal with it."

"Yes, sir."

"Thinking of our available weapons, I'll have to admit that we have no effective measures against the target." The pill was rather bitter to swallow but they didn't have the choice.

"But, are you confident of defeating it?"

"Nerv exists for that purpose." Gendo put back his glasses on his nose.

"We expect much from you."

The seats of the UN Commanders disappeared in the floor, leaving Gendo in charge of the operation. He turned to the sensors' operators.

"The target is still as it was."

"The present effective rate of the interception is 7.5 ."

Fuyutsuki was worried. "The U. N. Troops can't help it... What are you going to do?"

"I'll activate Evangelion Unit One."

"Unit One? But we have no pilot."

"No problem. Another spare will be brought."

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Sakura and Misato were still discussing in her car on the car train.

"So, are we going to where my father is?"

"Well. Yes, we are."

"Father..." Could she do it? Could she force herself to give the bastard a chance of redemption? He was her father and his love for his wife was blinding him.

"By the way, were you given an ID by your father?"

"Oh, yes. Here it is."

"Thanks!" Misato left up one eyebrow on the rather short message of Gendo for his daughter. "Then, read this."

She gave her a thick manual with the mention 'Top Secret' and 'Welcome to Nerv' on the cover.

"It's about my father's work... Is there anything in it for me to know what he wants from me? She sighed. "I can't say I'm really surprised. He can't write to me ... unless he wants me to do something."

"I know. You consider him to be a tough customer. Me too."

The train car emerged from its shaft and an underground city with buildings hanging from the ceiling of the round giant cavern appeared

"WAOUH! Great! It's a real geofront!"

"That's right. This is our secret base, NERV Headquarters. It's also the foundation for rebuilding the world and the last line of defence for the human race."

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EYECATCHES

Sakura in black Hakama and navy-blue Keigoki, looking fiercely to the spectator, draw her Katana and take a defensive stance.

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EYECATCHES

Misato in black Hakama and red Keigoki, looking fiercely to the spectator, draw…a can of beer and take a stance to drink it heartily. In the background, Sakura is face-faulting.

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Sakura and Misato were on a moving pavement in the giant internal structure of NERV headquarters. Misato was desperately consulting a map. Looking around the shoulder of the lady officer, Sakura could read the handwritten mention 'HERE' and 'WC' among the daedal-like drawing.

"That's strange. I'm sure this is the right way..."

"You said that, fifteen minutes ago." All that time lost…

"I'd really rather not wear a skirt this place. Anyway, where has Ritsuko gone? Sorry that I'm not familiar with this place."

She was right about it. The first time that an automatic hatch had opened, the pleated skirt of Sakura has been blown away revealing her panties and making her shriek 'cutely' according to Misato.

"I think we passed here some time ago. Shouldn't you call somebody to help us?"

"Ah, don't worry. All systems exist to be used."

They were doomed yes! To her current title of 'the eternally drunk girl', Misato could take now the title of 'the eternally lost girl'. The young Guardian was no better, she always remembered when she was Baran in her home-world and she managed to loose herself and her section during her military service with map and compass… Sighing, Sakura tried to occupy herself by figuring the layout and reading her manual while they wait for their rescue by Ritsuko.

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'Chief of Project E at Section 1 of Technical Department, Dr. Akagi Ritsuko, Dr. Akagi Ritsuko. Please contact with Captain Katsuragi Misato at Section 1 of Operation Department immediately.'

A very attractive woman with bleached hair, green eyes with one having a mole under it took her wet suit off after emerging from a violet-pink liquid.

"I'm not surprised. She must have got lost again." Ritsuko sighed with irritation on the antics of her colleague.

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As Misato tried valiantly to find the way for her and Sakura, the door of the elevator they have taken open revealing the irritated Ritsuko. The doctor was clad in a swimsuit with a pair of shorts and a lab blouse.

"Uhhm. Ha...Hi, Ritsuko..." Misato was catastrophed. Her friend found them before they found her.

"What did you do, Captain Katsuragi? We are short of hands and time!"

"Sorry..."

"So, she is that girl."

"Yes, 'the third children' according to Marduck's report."

"Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is for me madam." Sakura bowed. "Ah...How shall I call you?"

"Dr Akagi or Ritsuko will be enough, Sakura-Chan." She turned to Misato. "She is very polite, her."

"Yes, but she is very much like her father…in that they aren't lovable."

"Why, Misato, I'm disappointed." Sakura feigned dismay. "Fifteen minutes ago she called me 'cute' and now she is comparing me to my father. Oh woe is me to have such an ungrateful captain."

"HEY!"

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Gendo began to descend by the lift built on the Commander level and turned to Fuyutsuki.

"Well, I trust you with the suit of the operation."

"They'll meet after three years' interval." Fuyutsuki was sure that the encounter will be…intense.

"Sub-Commander, the target has begun to move again."

"Well. Red alert! All hands to battle stations!"

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Sakura, Misato and Ritsuko were coming up on a diagonal lift with a pink background generated by the light passing through giant reservoirs of violet-pink liquid.

'Repeat, Red alert! All hands to battle stations! Prepare for the interception of the enemies on the ground.'

Misato couldn't believe what she heard. The situation was dire indeed. "Did you hear what she said?"

"That's serious." Ritsuko was conserving her serious attitude.

"By the way, how is Unit One?"

That was the question that whirled in the mind of Sakura. She was apparently absorbed in her manual. In fact, she was preparing herself for the confrontation with her father and EVA-01.

"It is equipped with B type. It is being frozen."

"Does it really work? I heard that it has never worked yet."

"The possibility of it working is 0.000000001. O9-system seems a good name for it."

For the young Guardian of Dimensions, it was a good thing. The number nine is a lucky one for the Chinese. She was going to need this luck.

"You mean it won't work, don't you?"

"Oh, how rude you are! It isn't zero."

"It's only a number. Anyway, to say 'It doesn't work at all'...will be no excuse."

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Sakura has always thought that going to the EVA cage with a motorized dinghy on the pink coolant liquid was a little exaggerated. They really should have take example on the old Thunderbirds series and installed a cool chute system. She smiled internally: It would have been 'in genre'.

The group penetrated in a room with only a line of light coming through the entrance and then a sudden blackout.

"Uh, hum, I can't see anything, it's pitch dark. Is there a problem with the lights?"

As suddenly as before, Ritsuko turned on the lights. The big face of Evangelion Unit 01 appeared before Sakura.

"What the…Ah! This face...a gigantic robot...no…"

Ritsuko looked to the young girl "You can't find this in…the…manual…Sakura?"

The young girl was petrified. Her Phantom memories were wrecking her inside. She let go her sword and the manual on the ground. The sound of metal was reverberating strongly in the gigantic room.

"No…no…no…nonononono…"

Ritsuko blinked. Why Sakura was so rattled by the unit. "This is the Multi-purpose Humanoid Fighting Machine EVANGELION which the humanity finally developed."

"And the very place where my mother died."

The eyes of Ritsuko widened and Misato gasped. "How…how do you know that?"

"I remembered it! I was present. Tell me! Is it also Father's work?"

Gendo appeared in a glassed bay at the top of the room. "Yes."

Daughter and father looked at each other. The distance was not an obstacle. The Mako green eyes of Sakura clashed with the deep black eyes of Gendo, neither surrendering to the other.

"It's been a long time." The face of Gendo was a mask.

"Father ..." Sakura was far from beaten by the supreme bastard and revealed nothing.

"Prepare for battle."

Misato, flabbergasted, looked to her commander. "Prepare! Unit Zero is being frozen... No kidding ... Do you mean that you'll activate Unit One?"

Ritsuko turned to the captain. "We have no other choice."

"Hey! We can't have Rei get it on. We have no pilots."

"One has been just delivered."

"Are you serious?"

"Ikari Sakura-Chan, you will get into it."

"But, even in the case of Rei, it took seven full months for her to synchronize with Eva."

"You may only take a seat. We'd never expect more from you."

"But ..."

"At present, the interception against Angel's attack is top priority. We have no choice but to have someone get into it even if there is a little potential for synchronizing with Eva."

"You may be right..."

This was the cue for Sakura. She has been passive enough time. "Father! Is this why you call me?"

"This is exactly the reason why I call you."

"Do you mean that you need me to fight against the giant monster which I seen."

Sakura chuckled. "Unbelievable! You are saying that you need me now! I have known for a long time that you don't want me!"

"I called you just because I need you now."

"Interesting… Why me specifically ...?"

"Because others can't ..."

"Even if I've neither seen it nor heard of it? Why are you saying that I can do it without training?"

"Hear the explanations."

Sakura looked up to her father, incredulous. "That it? Hear the explanations? No preparation! I am not a pessimist but it seems that my chance, no, our chances are rather feeble."

"If you get into it, stop wasting time. Otherwise, get out!"

Sakura remarked the presence of many maintenance men looking at the scenery anxiously. Then her sixth sense hit her. Her eyes widened and she kicked her sword in her hand and turned to the left part of the ceiling in a defensive stance.

Above the geofront, the angel was attacking the ground with the energy beam from his eyes in order to reach the Nerv Headquarters. The explosion provoked vibrations to the underground structure.

Gendo was looking in the same direction as his daughter. "The angel seems to have found this place." The fact that Sakura has sense the attack before they felt its effects was duly noted.

Ritsuko turned to the young girl. "Sakura-Chan, we have no time."

Misato double-team with her friend. "Get into it."

"Okay! All right! I know a crisis situation when I see one. But if you expect me to become the hot-shot Mecha ace in an instant, you're going to be disappointed. It's ridiculous. I need help!"

Now that was a good idea in Misato's book. "Sakura-Chan... What sort of help do you want?"

"I understand that you have another pilot from another EVA with you, this 'Rei'. Please, I don't think I can do that without at least her advice!"

It was not what Gendo has planned for but it will do. He turned to a wall of screens. "Fuyutsuki!"

Fuyutsuki appeared on all the screens.

"Wake up Rei."

"She is not out of the hospital!"

"She is still alive, that enough."

Fuyutsuki sighed. "All right."

Gendo spoke to an invisible interlocutor. "Rei?"

A flat and feminine voice responded. "Yes."

"The spare turned out to be in need of your experience." His voice smoothed. "Will you do it again?"

"Yes."

Ritsuko took the initiative. "All right, we continue to reconfigure the system of Unit One for Sakura! Start!

"Yes sir. The current process is already complete at 68 and increasing."

For Sakura, it was better than what she had been expecting from Gendo. The presence of her sword has been completely overlooked and Gendo has not broken in the threats against her.

A hospital gurney is being rolled in with a team of doctors and nurses. On it, a pale girl of her own age with light blue hair and red eyes is laying. Bandages covered the right side of her face and her right arm. An IV feed was on the left arm. She was clad in a white sleeveless skin-tight suit.

Sakura was unprepared for the assault of strong emotions as her Mako eyes locked with the one crimson: fear, love, sorrow and anger. She whirled to her father. "YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT SHE WAS WOUNDED! ASSHOLE! I would have made the displacement." She walked briskly to the gurney before Rei made any movement. "Don't move please, you're hurt. I just wanted advice on the piloting of EVA. They had no right to treat you like this.

The crimson eye blinked but before any questions were posed and answered, the angel outside attacked again.

The shockwave would have throw Rei on the floor should Sakura have not stabilized the gurney. "Watch out, Rei! Don't open your wounds by jostling around and…LOOK OUT MISATO!"

Right on the location of the NERV captain, heavy metallic light-ramps fell from the ceiling. Sakura left her instincts guided her. She took an Iajutsu stance, pushed the blade of her Katana out with her left thumb and drew. "KAMAÏTACHI!"

A pure ray of blue energy manifested for a fraction of second on the falling ramps which suddenly fell apart on the sides from the prostrated woman, each cut cleaned.

Preoccupied by the security of the others, Sakura failed to remark the falling ramps on her and Rei until it was too late to do anything except covering Rei with her body, brace for the impact and pray for a miracle.

The EVA-01 was the miracle. On her own, the powerful war-machine protected Sakura and incidentally Rei with her right hand. Gendo smiled as a ramp crashed without effect on his reinforced window.

"Ah!"

"EVA moved! What was the matter with it!"

"It tore off the binding attached to the right arm."

Ritsuko was freaking both from the earlier technique used by Sakura and from the reaction of EVA-01. "It's impossible! Even the entry plug has never been inserted yet. It can't move! And how in hell are you capable to do such a thing?"

Misato, still awed by what happened looked to the young girl. "It reacts without the interface... Or rather, did it protect her? ... She can do it! And that strange power…"

Sakura turned to Rei, blanched and gingerly held her hand. Rei was suffering very much because of the sudden movement when Sakura had covered her.

"Sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I just wanted to protect you!" Sakura turned her head to the ceiling. "He is going to pay. I swear he is going to pay with interests!" The determined and angered girl looked to Ritsuko. "All right! Let's do it! Get me into it now!"

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In the command centre, the NERV staff is diligently pursuing the operation against the angel.

"Freezing Process has finished."

"The binding of the right arm has been fixed again."

"Position setting for docking in the cage is OK."

"The stop signal plug has been discharged."

"Yes Sir. Insert the entry plug."

"The plug has been fixed."

"Begin the first connection."

Sakura, still in her school uniform, sat inside the entry plug, hands on the butterfly handles. She had refused to be separated from her sword and managed to clamp it at the back of her seat. A silvered A10 nerve clip placed neatly in her black hair. She was waiting patiently.

Ritsuko supervised the operation. "Commence LCL injection into entry plug."

With an alarm not faked, Sakura reacted to the injection of the liquid. "Hmm? Hey! What is this? Ah, ah, ah, Uguh…"

"Don't worry. After your lungs fill with LCL, it'll directly supply you with oxygen. You'll get used to it soon."

"YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT BEFORE! Fuah, guhah... Beurk! What a taste! I feel sick."

Misato gave a look to the young girl through the holographic communication screen. "Stand it! You are a girl, aren't you!"

"I failed to see what my sex has to do with the taste of your LCL!"

"So, what about an explanation on your own little miracle sword?"

Sakura smiled as she observed the flame of curiosity in the eyes of Ritsuko. She couldn't reveal too much but she can lay a few basics. "It was an advanced technique from my school of martial arts."

"What school? The Ruronin Kenshin one?"

"Very funny. No, my family branch of Zanji Shinjinken-Ryu, a Kenjutsu school. The sword by itself is not the key. Everything depended of its wielder." She took a breath of the sanguine liquid. "The Kamaïtchi is the generation of a vacuum-based blade."

"Vacuum? But, how, it will take tremendous speed to build the momentum necessary."

"Correct, this is where the secret of all high-level martial artists played: Ki."

"Ki? This old superstition? But there is no scientific proof that…"

"I can't help you on that, Doctor. The only thing I can say is that if you stay blinded by the light of the Science, you will never see Ki, much less understanding it."

"All right! Enough with the pseudo-science chat. We have an angel to eliminate." Misato crossed her arms. "What are you waiting for? Get to work!"

"Connect to the main power supply."

"Transmit power to all circuits."

"Yes Sir."

"The second contact is beginning."

"I'll commence the second contact."

"The connection of the A10-nerve is operational."

Ritsuko smiled. Up to now, everything is working. "Japanese has been fixed to the system as the fundamental rules for the operation of Eva. All initial contacts are all right."

Maya was a little brunette and the main helper of Dr Akagi. She was the best for surveying the success of the process. "Connect the mutual lines. The rate of synchronization is 41.3."

In the entry plug, it's the first contact. Sakura squeezed hard her eyes to stop her tears. It was a warmth without any equal in the world that enveloped her. She could do much more than 41.3 if she synchronized herself with the EVA, but it was premature so early.

Now, she was sure. The soul of her mother was inside the EVA. Burning anger from the core of her being threatened to boil over but she set her jaws and focus. _'I must be the mistress of my anger and not its slave.'_

Ritsuko was overjoyed by the incredible rate of synchronization and in the first essay, no less. "Great!"

Maya smiled alongside her 'sempai'. "All values of the harmonics are normal. Everything is under control."

"It will go!"

Misato was transformed in a professional soldier as she directed the operation. "Ready for launching."

"Release the 1st lock bolt!"

"It has been released."

"Move the umbilical bridge!"

"Release the 2nd lock bolt!"

"Take off the 1st binding and then the 2nd binding."

"Cancel the 1st through 15th safety locks."

"Internal battery has charged."

"Socket for external power supply is operational."

"OK. Eva Unit One to the launching pad."

Now the mighty machine was ready for war. On his platform, the Evangelion is moved to the electromagnetic catapult and ready to be launched as vertical hatches opened up in succession.

"The course is clear. All green."

Ritsuko turned to the tactical officer, her friend Misato. "It's ready for launching."

"OK. Do we have your authorization Sir?"

Gendo looked between his joints hands. "Of course. We have no future unless we beat Angels."

His second-in-command leaned to him. "Ikari, are you really satisfied with it?"

Misato turned to the central screen. "Launch!"

"WOUAH!" Sakura was thrown back into her cockpit chair by the acceleration. EVA-01 was going to battle at the surface.

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The Angel Sachiel was walking in the city and stopped as he sensed a perturbation. A giant trap opened under the klaxons of warning and with an abrupt stop, the Evangelion unit appeared on the ground.

Misato looked to the young girl she had taken into this very situation. "Sakura-Chan. Come back alive."

Inside the Entry plug, the Mako green eyes widened under the unexpected shock. Sakura was sensing something that she should not have sensed in this world.

"Holy…shit!"

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Ending Theme Song

Lyrics/music by Bart Howard  
Arrangement by Toshiyuki Ohmori

Fly me to the moon,

And let me play among the stars.

Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars.

In other words, hold my hand!

In other words, darling, kiss me.

Fill my heart with song,

and let me sing forever more.

You are all I long for, all I worship and adore.

In other words, please be true!

In other words, I love you!

(Repeat Song)

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Trailer:

EVA-01 defeats the angel. But it is only the beginning of everything as an incredible truth is revealed. Sakura confront her father for the second time. Misato's conceit makes her decide to relieve the young girl. Next is 'The Beast'. Of course, next time, service, service.

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End of Episode: 1.


	3. The Beast

**THE SONG OF AN ANGEL**

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the concept of the Guardians of Dimensions, 'Outerworld', Sakura, Iridia and Baran.

Notes: Dears readers, it's official, I've received my first flame… It was rather amusing. Oh, well…On a sadder note, I've loose a reader who don't like my story. Too bad but one cannot please everybody.

I'm trying to give the confusing impression of the anime. I'm not sure I managed to my entire satisfaction. Send your reviews to tell me.

A point of details: The power of synchronization of Sakura is different from the term used in the anime. Using it, Sakura became abstractly what she wants. Concretely, she can use anything that can be associated with the element chosen. She is also immune to anything the element represents directly or indirectly. Of course, the same power enables her to completely unleash the potential of the element taken.

**Chap 2: THE BEAST (Unknown Ceilings).**

MODIFIED OPENING THEME SONG

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Inside the entry plug of her EVA-01, Sakura is looking completely flabbergasted at her adversary, the gigantic creature known as 'Angel'. She COULDN'T sense what she sensed. It was an impossibility! It was…an unbalance…

Inside the operating room of NERV underground, Misato and Ritsuko prepared themselves to assist the beginning pilot.

"Are you ready, Sakura-Chan?"

"Misato…Please? ...Tell me you have background music diffused on a parallel channel…"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I'm hearing music here!"

Ritsuko leaned on the consol of her assistant Maya. "Seems there's nothing."

"Confirm. There is no music diffusion received by the EVA com-unit."

"And yet, Misato. I am hearing music, like…like a song."

"Please Sakura, concentrate on the Angel… Remove the final safety lock! Evangelion Unit One, lift off!" The tactical captain then concentrated on the still confused pilot. "Sakura-Chan, think about only walking now."

But the young girl was not listening to her. She was concentrating on what she could hear. It was so familiar… "No…no…nono…NO! IT CANNOT BE! I…I…I can understand it!"

"Pulse of the pilot is rising… Pressure is spiking! We have the beginning of hyperventilation…captain, she's afraid!"

"Synchrograph is rising also…Now at 50.7."

And then the mouth-guard of the helmet of the EVA cracked open and a low growl can be heard as Unit one pointed its finger to the angel.

"I know your name…SACHIEL!" In the cockpit, Sakura has gripped the control handles, righteous fury seizing her.

Ritsuko gasped and on the top level, Fuyutsuki and Gendo jerked. No one is supposed to know this name at this time, especially not a fourteen years old girl.

"You have no right to be here, Angel of Water! Be gone from the corporal plane!"

The Angel seemed to pause and perhaps responded to the EVA.

"What do you mean? It's your sacred duty?"

Once again an apparent conversation is exchanged between the two giants. Low growls for EVA-01 and perhaps chimes for Sachiel.

"The…Trial...of…Man…? IMPOSSIBLE!"

All the control room was gaping at the sight. Their pilot was…dialoguing with the Angel? ...And it seemed to respond? Misato turned to the head-scientist. "Ritsuko! What is happening?"

"I don't know yet but I think she is receiving something through her nerve interface."

"Doctor, we have a result from MAGI. Each time the Angel seemingly respond, there is a different modulation of the harmonics of its AT field. The modulation return to the default value each time Sakura is speaking."

"So, it is really talking…"

"…and she is really hearing it."

"I will STOP YOU!"

Sakura squeezed the controls and begin to move… Well, trying to move is more exact.

Ritsuko watched with pride as the machine she helped to build took its first firm pace. "It 's walking!"

Inside the entry plug, the young girl was grinning. With the biofeedback controls, she could feel the EVA walking as if it was her own body. "Yeah…! Oops!"

Unfortunately, no matter the degree of synchronization, piloting an EVA is like having a new body. The gravity centre of the robot was different from the one who pilot it. The EVA snatched its foot and fall on its face.

Misato began to panic. "Sakura-Chan, come on! Hurry up! Stand up as soon as possible!"

"I'M DOING MY BEST! Oh! Shit!"

Sachiel has approached the one who wanted to stop him. It was not the will of Heaven therefore it will not be! He lifted up EVA-01 by the head and grasped EVA's left arm tightly. Sachiel then used one of his celestial powers to boost significantly the strength of his arms.

The waited but unexpected amount of pain made Sakura grabbed the corresponding arm and keened under the perceived injury.

Misato tried to help her charge. "Sakura-Chan, keep your head. It isn't your arm."

Ritsuko turned to Maya. "How is Eva's protection system?"

"The signal doesn't work."

Makoto, a male operator reported "Field has not been developed!"

It was a catastrophe for Ritsuko. Without an AT field on its own, EVA-01 was defenceless. "It won't do?!"

Under the formidable pressure, the armour of the left arm finally broke then it was the arm itself. Sakura arched back under the sharp and acute pain.

"The left arm has been damaged."

"The circuits have snapped."

"Sakura-Chan, escape it!"

Still held by the head of her EVA and paralyzed by the pain, Sakura could only contemplate the gathering of energy in the weapon on the palm of the Angel.

An energy lance began to batter the helmeted head of the EVA.

"The front area of the head is cracked!"

"The armouring won't stand any more."

All the status monitors passed on the reading 'EMERGENCY' as the energy weapon finally pierced through the head and nailed the unit on an adjacent building.

Shigeru, the colleague of Makoto winced as his status monitor flashed red. "Head damaged! Damages unidentified!"

"The nerves for control are snapping one after another."

"The pilot does not respond."

Misato screamed. "Sakura-Chan!"

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Sakura opened her mako green eyes on… "…An unknown ceiling…" Great, she was now channelling her twin brother Shinji.

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In an advanced looking darkened room, Keele Lorentz, the most powerful member of the mysterious SEELE is contemplating the situation. His cybernetic goggles are flashing with data. "The second coming of the Angels…It's too abrupt."

Another member illuminated in yellow light pursued. "It's the same as fifteen years ago. A disaster always comes without any notice."

The SEELE member in red light looked up from his rapport. "It may be fortunate for us from the view that our prior investment came to nothing…"

Another member in blue light continued. "Things have never turned out yet. If it is useless, it's wasted."

The member in yellow turned to Gendo. "That's right. As for the measures with the Angels which have been known commonly now and the information control, NERV must cope with them appropriately and abruptly."

Gendo replied under his crossed hands. "The matters have been done. Feel easy."

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At the centre of an explosion crater, a big tent was dressed. The entire zone was corded by danger signs. Inside the tent, Misato clad in a protective suit was changing the television channels to see the official news.

Zap. 'The Government announcement on the state of special emergency yesterday says this morning…'

Zap. 'In this incident, …'

Zap. 'The U. N. forces in Japan…'

Misato was fanning herself and looking rather dejected at the news feed. "The announcement was 'Scenario D-22'. The facts were hushed up again."

Ritsuko, also clad in a protective suit, turned to her friend. "The people of Public Relations Department seemed to be glad because they got things to do at last."

"They seemed very optimistic."

"Well… The truth is that everyone is afraid."

"Of course! You saw what happened! It's a miracle there have been so few exterior witnesses!"

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In the holographic communication chamber, Lorentz was finishing the session. "That's all what it is."

The last member in green of the assembly turned to Gendo. "But, Ikari-kun, NERV and EVA…you can use them in better ways, can't you?"

"The costs of the repairs for Unit Zero will be the ruin of a country. We are fortunate that Unit One was undamaged in the first battle."

"I heard that you gave that toy to your daughter."

"Human, Time and Money… How much will be spent by you and your daughter for your satisfaction?"

The red member looked from a report marked 'Top secret, human complement project, top-level executive council, 17th interim report, human complement committee, project outlines for fiscal 2015, summary'. "Moreover, you have another job to do, don't you? Human Complement Project, this is what you must do at the top priority."

"That's right. That project is the only hope under such hopeless circumstances, for us."

"Anyway, although Angels came again, it can't be allowed that the project will be behind schedule. As for the budgets, we'll consider them."

"Well, the committee will take over now."

"Ikari-kun, thanks."

"Ikari, you can't go back."

"I understand." Gendo said. "Humans have no time."

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Sakura stood with a rather ripped school suit nearby the windows, sheathed Katana in her right hand. Her skirt was cut on the side, revealing her tight. A darkened patch was around the large hole on the right shoulder vest. She was contemplating the interior of the Geofront and examining her left hand. She turned to a hospital bed being passed by a medical team.

She smiled as she saw Rei on the bed. The unique eye blinked as the two girls examined each others during the brief passing.

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Misato and Ritsuko were going back on the truck parked to the NERV tent.

Misato was glad to be in the interior of the vehicle. "I always think that an air conditioner is the greatest treasure of humanity! It's really a scientific success!"

"Sakura-Chan has recover consciousness after her three days sedation."

"How is she?"

"No external wounds like EVA. She seemed somewhat confused in her memory."

"It cannot be… Is it a mental contamination or a consequence of what she used?"

"I heard that you need not worry about it."

"So… Quite so. Because suddenly that happened…"

"It's no wonder. She was, after all at the centre of an AT field explosion."

"Mind you, I would really know how she can do all that. Her explanations were rather…succinct."

They passed a building where a big crane is moving a gun in the form of an EVA-scale automatic rifle.

"If Eva and this city completely work, we'll be able to win."

"Will you defeat the Angels? You are so optimistic as you were."

"Wishful thinking is a necessity for a human life."

"Right. Your optimistic character is a refreshing."

"See you."

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Sakura was patiently sitting in the waiting room of the hospital wing and smiled as Misato came for her.

They went for an elevator and waited. The doors opened on Gendo. Sakura's face closed as she drilled her feral gaze in the dark eyes of her father. Her knuckles whitened on the grip of her sword. The doors closed as the two said nothing.

Sakura turned to Misato. "Let's take another path."

As they took an escalator, Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko are looking at them on the security monitors.

Ritsuko seemed worried. "Is it OK that they live together?"

"For Ikari and her daughter, it's natural to be without each other."

"If anything, it is unusual to live together…is it so…"

Later, Sakura and Misato stood before a man at a model of NERV buildings. Sakura looked perplexed as she examined her residential papers. Misato is the same.

"Alone?"

"Yes, her room is located in Block 6 over there. Any problems?"

"Yes, but I don' think you can do anything about it."

"Are you satisfied with it, Sakura-Chan?"

"Well, I'm somewhat a loner. Any places are the same. And under the circumstances…"

The NERV captain took her decision at what she could read on the face of the young girl. She took her portable phone and gave a few calls. The last was to Ritsuko.

"What?!"

"As I said now, I've decided to take charge of Sakura-Chan. I've got the superior's agreement. Don't worry. I won't have her drunk with my personal reserve." She promptly pulled up the phone as the response of her friend fused.

"That goes without saying! What the hell are you thinking about!"

"As I expected. She could never understand a joke."

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Misato's blue car, looking better, drove through a tunnel. The captain turned to her passenger who seemed to have managed to obtain a change of fresh school-clothes.

"Well, tonight we're going to do flamboyantly, aren't you?"

Sakura looked up, a little worried, to her legal guardian. "What are you saying about?"

"Of course, it's a welcome party for a new lodger!"

"Oh…Thank you…"

The pair stopped at a convenience store. Sakura watched with dismay at the interesting selection of food by Misato. It was only instant foods, the best example of the convenient but poor meals.

She shook her head. She will not go very far if she let her nourish them with such a diet. Tonight, she let her do what she wanted for the welcoming party then she will hit her in the stomach with all her canons.

As she helped the purple-haired woman with her groceries, she heard an interesting conversation between two housewives.

"Are you also going to move?"

"I had never thought seriously that this city really became a battlefield."

"My husband told me that our children and I should move for safety at least."

"Move for safety ... Even if this is the fortress city, we can't rely on anything at all."

"The incident three days ago, the mere recollection of it makes me shudder."

She sighed as she heard the proof of her blunder three days ago and the reminding of the blindness of humanity in the present situation.

The two females regained the Renault Alpine and the car is soon going along the road to the top of a hill dominating the city.

"Well, we will drop in some place on the way."

"Where are we going? What surprises have you prepared again?" teased Sakura.

Misato giggled. "It…is…a…good…place."

They were looking to the bright city in the evening sun. Sakura was strangely moved by what she saw.

"Somewhat…this is a lonesome city, isn't it?"

"The time has come."

Under them, many alarms were raised as powerful mechanisms were activated. The buildings of the ceiling of the Geofront were slowly appearing.

"Wow! Great! Buildings are growing!"

"This is the Fortress City for defence against the Angels: 'Tokyo-3'… Our hometown…and the town which you protected."

"I'm glad I did it."

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EYECATCHES

Sakura, still in her black and navy-blue Hakama and Keigoki, launched a kamaïtachi on a log, cutting it in half.

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EYECATCHES

Gendo, in his trademark dark uniform, is looking with his Glare of Doom to the spectator. He goes to push back his glasses but instead put his gloved finger in his nose. In the background, Sakura is rolling on the floor in laughter.

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Misato and Sakura arrived to the door to the apartment of the NERV captain. "I think your things have arrived here."

She was right. Many boxes containing the material possessions of the young girl were neatly packed at the entrance. The Phantom Memories of the Guardian were already warning her that probably everything she had was here. _'Very charming of my old guardian. Can't wait to get right of me, huh?'_

"Really, I've also just moved to this town the other day." She opened the door. "Come in."

Sakura smiled thinly "May I come in?"

"Sakura-Chan, this is your house!"

This time, the smile reached her green eyes. "I'm back."

"Welcome home!"

Her smile disappeared very quickly and her eyes widened when she saw the… Well, battlefield was the first word that came to her mind. Someone has thrown World War III in this apartment and with biological weapons at least.

"Well, the room is a little untidy… Don't you mind that."

"…a little…" _'She can't be serious? THAT! A LITTLE UNTIDY!'_

"Please, put the foods in the refrigerator."

"Ah, yes." _'I can't even imagine what I'm going to find in it.'_

Sakura opened the fridge. "Ice… Relishes… And only beers beverages… How can she maintain her figure with the kind of life she leads? Well, let see the other refrigerator over there…" _'Oh yes! The fridge for the penguin. I wonder what it is in this altered reality.'_

"Ah, it's OK. Perhaps he is sleeping now."

"Sleeping?" She focused on the fridge. "I sense nothing in it."

"Oh? Then he must be wandering around. No problem."

Very soon, the microwave oven is used to prepare the feast of instant foods and the pair prepared to rip into it.

"**Itadakimasu**! (good appetite)"

"Itadakimasu!"

Misato quaffed a beer. "Phaaaaaah Kwaaaaaah!! Oh my dear life, I just live for such a time! Ah, don't you eat them? They are rather tasty, although they are instant foods."

"Oh yes, they are…I'm not just used to such a meal."

"Aww! Don't be fussy!"

"I'm not. I really appreciate this."

"Don't you think it's nice, having a meal with others."

"Yes… Especially with someone you like…"

"Flatterer! All right. Next, we'll decide on the Everyday Duties." She smirked. "We'll use the fair method of **Janken** (game of 'paper, stone and scissors')."

"Oh no! Not that method! No way!"

"Aww! Come on! It'll fair and fun!"

"Nope! No way. Listen, I'm willing to do all the breakfasts and dinners." She grabbed the paper table. _'Like this I will not finish poisoned by your cooking'_. "BUT, we'll alternate the garbage and cleaning duties." _'Since I'm going to do the majority of the work anyway.'_

"Aaah! You are no fun, Sakura-Chan. But as for the everyday duties which we've fairly decided, everything is OK."

"Yes." _'Phew! Dodge the bullet.'_

"Well. Because this is your house from today, you can really feel at home here."

Sakura considered the room. _'A home…a real home.'_ "Yes."

"Hey! Yes, yes, yes, yes… What a gloomy! You are a bright girl, aren't you?" she messed the thick and shinning black hair. "Pull yourself together!"

Sakura smiled to her legal guardian "Ah ... yes. Thanks Misato."

"It's OK. Take a bath and wash all the unpleasant things away."

The Japanese bath has always been a favourite activity for the young Guardian. She has stayed long hours in the hot water with utter pleasure. She opened the door after shedding her clothes. A penguin appeared… She blinked… It blinked…

"Wark!"

A nervous twist manifested on the left eye of the young girl. She had understood that. She grabbed the penguin by the back of its portable heater unit and came back naked to the living room.

"Misato!"

"What's wrong?"

"What . Is . That!?" She presented the offending bird.

"Oh, he? A new kind, a hot spring penguin. His name is Penpen. He is another lodger."

"He is a pervert!" She shook the warm-water fowl. "He was leering at me in the bathroom." _'I can't believe he said "nice package beautiful!" How intelligent is this bird anyway?'_

"Really? Well…then…you'd better cover the front."

Sakura looked on herself. She was really channelling her brother. She smirked and after releasing Penpen, took a pinup pose. "Why, Misato? Are you jealous of my youthful and lush body…?" She laughed and dodged in the bathroom before Misato hit her with the toothpick jar.

'_The little minx!'_ thought Misato. Oh, well. At least, it means that she will get ride of the trauma she endured during the battle.

As she took her bath, Sakura reflected on the past events. "Katsuragi Misato… She is much better in person than what I seen in the anime." She thought on what she said about bath: 'wash all the unpleasant things away'. "But for some, in the bath, more unpleasant things come to the mind."

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In a vast armoured room, an orange EVA is encased in bakelite. The room has been destroyed seriously, probably by the EVA. In the observation chamber, Ritsuko and Gendo are discussing.

"How was Rei? This afternoon, did you go…to the hospital?"

"In 20 days, she will be able to move. I'll get the committee's agreement for making the frozen Unit Zero restart until then."

"What a pain…they have…"

"There are no other people who can move Eva. As long as they live, I let them do that."

"Whatever the children think…"

"What is your final analysis for the Third Children."

"With her collaboration, we have been able to ensure that she is no angel and presented no signs of physical or mental contamination. The analysis of her sword confirmed that it is an authentic Katana made of simple steel: Iron and carbon. In brief, we have been unable to infirm her words and actions so far."

"I see. She is still on our side. She is still usable and that all that count. Warn me at the first sign of contamination. Continue to analyze her capacities and prepare contingencies in case she decided to no longer obey."

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As she looked on the notification of the moving-in of Sakura in the Tokyo-3 junior high school, Misato is reflecting on all what happened to the Third Children.

"Yes. She had such a bitter experience. I'm afraid that she will get it on."

Misato decide to take a bath and phoned to Ritsuko.

"Maintenance of her is your job, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid. I don't know for sure how to get along with her."

"Complaints yet? You declared theatrically that you would take charge of her, didn't you?"

"Shut up!" She hanged up the phone.

"Then I regarded her as my tool. I'm as the same as Ritsuko. Although we defeated the Angel…I don't feel happy."

Sakura lay on her bed in the room she had cleaned for her. "This is an unknown ceiling, too. It's natural ... because I don't know any places in this city." She remembered Misato saying 'This is your home.' "Why am I here?"

As she contemplated the ceiling, her memory brought her back three days in the past. Her mako green eyes began to glow in the darkness.

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The EVA seemed to be defeated by the Angel. Red blood spouted out from the head. In the control centre, all monitors showed 'EMERGENCY'.

Shigeru typed wildly on his consol. "Head damaged! Damages unidentified!"

Maya was also having problems. "Trouble with keeping up nervous central activity!"

Misato turned to the young woman. "How are the conditions?"

"Synchrograph has reversed. Pulses are flowing backward!"

Ritsuko tried to save the boat. "Cut the circuits! Stop them!"

"No way. The signal is refused. It can't be received!"

Makoto is dismayed by the results he had. "No responses from the monitoring system. Unable to confirm if the pilot is alive or not!"

"Unit One is totally silent."

"Misato!"

"So much for this time… Stop the operation. Pilot's protection is the top priority. Eject the plug by force!"

"Impossible. It is totally out of control."

"What!!"

"**I'm not dead yet**!"

The powerful young voice on the radio stopped all the activities in the command room. On the screen, the EVA left eye flashed.

"Eva restarted!"

"No! It can't move!"

Misato looked with awe and fear. "It can't be…"

Ritsuko was the same. "…Berserker."

"I'm unable to confirm, Sempai. No contact whatsoever with Unit One except audio-only radio channel."

On the battlefield, EVA roared as her pilot, still in much pain, looked with anger to the Angel. This was it! She was cut off the survey of the control room. Now! She could take action!

Her spiritual power came forth. The true synchronization began.

On a plane of existence anchored to the physical plane by the very body of EVA-01, the soul of a gentle woman was sensing what was happening. On the verge of taking control and unleashed her berserker rage on the Angel, she gasped in surprise as she felt a warm hand taking her left one. She whirled to face a vision she thought she will never touched again.

Sakura smiled to her mother as her power enabled her to reach through the A10 nerve clip in such a manner without enduring a 400 rate of synchronization. She then turned to her left and reached for another hand. The soul of Unit One appeared holding her hand.

The smile of Sakura took on a serene quality as she realized that she could hear now the Celestial Symphony of the Creation. "**We are One**."

Fuyutsuki smiled at the scene on the screen. "We'll win."

The mighty EVA suddenly charged in and hurled the Angel in another building. "**Let's dance, Sachiel**!"

She jumped through the air and launched a devastating double-hit kick to the top of Sachiel. Back-flipping, Sakura analyzed the situation. She was still in pain and her broken left arm was not a good thing. Still, she was in a better shape than Sachiel.

"**Misato, what are my weapons**?"

"Hum…You have a progressive knife stocked in the left shoulder-pad."

"**Affirmative**!" Sakura deployed the knife which began to vibrate at high frequency.

As he realized the menace, Sachiel attacked at a distance. His eyebeam splashed against EVA-01. "**Useless, my armour is too thick**."

"**Ritsuko? I think I know where his weak point is. It's the red globe on his chest**!"

"Yes but how do you know?"

"**The symphony… The music… Its harmonics are crystal clear to me…**"

The EVA charged, determined to bring an end to the conflict. But Sachiel was not without defence. The hexagonal circles of an AT field manifested and blocked the attack of Sakura.

Ritsuko is dismayed as Unit One has failed to deploy an analogue field. "AT field…"

"We can't. As long as the Angel has an AT field…"

"…EVA can't touch the Angel."

"**So, it's called an AT field…Nice force field, Sachiel. But I have a suitable tactic**."

Sakura reached for her physical gifts and called on the Phoenix.

"Impossible! The left arm and the head have been restored, including the armour status."

"Oh Great…My charge is full of surprise."

"Unit One is also expanding AT field. It is neutralizing the phased space."

Using her left hand, EVA-01 was penetrating the field of the Angel. The Celestial Songs of the two giants duelled for supremacy, but Sakura was three entities in one. The AT field of Sachiel failed.

"Incredible, it ripped it apart!" Ritsuko was awed and couldn't wait to analyze any fragment of data left.

Misato was clearly afraid of the power demonstrated. "That AT-field so easily…"

It was not finished. Taking the advantage of the opening, the left hand of the EVA grabbed one of the arms of Sachiel and projected him on the ground. The progressive knife was held high.

"**I CLAIM YOUR POWER IN MY NAME!**"

The knife struck and shattered the red core. The body of Sachiel shook then stayed still.

"SHE DID IT!"

"Sakura! Are you all right?"

Inside the entry plug, the young girl had released her power on the EVA and was attempting to regain her breath: Quite a feat in LCL. Her voice was slowly returning to normal now that she didn't have to use the Celestial Symphony.

"**No, I'm not…all right…I'll not be all…right** for a long time… Don't rejoice yet, it's not…finished."

"She's right! We are still detecting a blue pattern!"

"WHAT? WHERE?"

"Impossible to pinpoint it. But it's near the location of Unit One."

"Wish me luck, Misato. I'm going to need it. Oh…By the way, doctor, if I make it back, you'll have my full cooperation for examinations and experimentations."

"What…What are you talking about?"

Sakura didn't respond. She was searching a certain control in her entry plug.

Misato was worried. What was she doing in here? "How is Eva ...?"

Aboard EVA-01, various systems were rebooting themselves.

"The circuits have been connected." At least, now they were going to know what happened.

"The system has been recovered. The graph is in the normal position." Maya was relieved.

"The survival of the pilot has been confirmed."

Ritsuko scowled to Makoto. "Of course, she was just talking to us before. Body Recovery Group, hurry up!"

"Ritsuko is right! Pilot's protection is the top priority."

"NO! Don't send anyone yet. It's too dangerous! Ah! Found it!"

Sakura pulled the control with a tired smile.

"She…She has just ejected the entry plug." On the screen the plug was being released from his protective armour. The vents ejected the LCL in emergency and the cockpit opened.

All recorders and sensors functioning, the NERV staff could only look flabbergasted as the young girl went out holding her Katana.

Once again, the sense of reality of Misato took a severe beating as she saw a fourteen years old girl descending a Mecha of 40 metres by jumping down from the openings and gaps of the armour.

"Did we just see her…"

"…jumping down like a cheap ninja on steroids? Yes." Ritsuko was a scientist. What she was seeing was humanly impossible.

On the ground, Sakura slowly let her senses worked for her. There he was! A mass of blue light motes were condensing into a humanoid form.

"AT field in formation! Pattern blue! I've got it!" Shigeru throw the image of his consol on the main screen.

"They have scale-down models now?" remarked a confused Misato.

Right in front of the young Guardian, Sachiel was creating another corporal vessel for housing his conscience. As she observed her adversary, Sakura prepared herself. She shook her hair of the dried flecks of coagulated LCL and cut with the blade of her sword a side of her skirt. It will reveal her legs and panties at each movement but now she could move without problem.

Sachiel and Sakura observed themselves for a time, then on an unknown signal attacked.

Misato looked as the young girl danced a dance of death with the human-scale Angel. Energy lances and eyebeam were used against thrusts and cuts of a simple steel sword and sweeps of deadly crescent-shaped energy.

The Angel used sheer power to overwhelmed Sakura and trusted his AT field to protect him. The young Guardian used agility and speed as protection. Her attacks have needle-precision and were probing for weaknesses.

It was a duel! Only one could walk away from it.

In any prolonged combat, there is a time when a fighter committed a fault. Sakura overextended a thrust and faltered as she attempted to compensate. Sachiel grabbed the occasion.

"NO!" Under the horrified gaze of Misato, an energy lance punctured the right shoulder of the girl in a spurt of blood.

But this genre of pain was familiar to the young Guardian. She seized the chance: Sachiel was immobilized by the attack. The Katana changed hand and cut through the energy lance. The shock cost precious instants to the Angel.

Using gravity as a helper, Sakura was diving from above, sword pointed to the core in her left hand. The AT field gave all its power to block the deadly attack. In vain, it failed and the soul-blade pierced the core. The conscience of Sachiel was immediately sent to heaven as his vessel began to discorporate.

Blue motes of light began to gather around the young girl. She has won and by winning in personal combat, she could claim the power of the Angel of Water. The very energy of Creation suffused her being and granted her the portfolio of the Third Angel of the Trial of Man.

Sakura smiled as the power manifested by itself and began to sooth her injury. She could already feel the marvellous quality of the regenerative power of an Angel working on her flesh.

Misato was still a professional soldier. She immediately recognized the danger as the broken core began to glow. "SAKURA! LOOK OUT! IT'S GOING TO EXPLOSE!"

"Holy sh…"

The explosion enveloped the young girl in white unconsciousness.

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Misato quietly knocked on the door of Sakura's room "Sakura-Chan, may I open the door? You did a praiseworthy thing. You may keep your head high. Good night, Sakura-Chan. Cheer up."

She quietly shut the door leaving the young girl alone pondering on her conundrum. _'I'm not doing it for glory, Misato. I'm doing it for the very motto of NERV: God is in heaven, all is right in the world.'_

"The Dead-Sea Scrolls' prophecy…The whole edifice stand on sand…Humanity did not reach its full potential."

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Ending Theme Song

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Preview:

Sakura, who has started a new life apparently obediently to the situations, cannot make new friends easily. But that she is a pilot of Eva makes her a popular person with all the problems associated. The next is "A transfer'. Next time, of course, I'll give you a good service!

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End of Episode: 2.


End file.
